Sunday, March 17, 2013

EEEEK! Steek!!

Last May I started a blanket called Rams and Yowes by Kate Davies. I have thoroughly enjoy knitting the little rows of ewes and rams in the beautiful natural tones of shetland wool. This lovely lap blanket was my first major fair isle project and I am totally hooked!

In true fair isle style, the square blanket is knit as a tube and then steeked. Steeking is basically cutting your knitting, strategically. You can imagine it is a little nerve wracking. After putting months of work into a piece of knitting, I didn't want to screw up!

I followed Kate Davies' tutorial and it made the process much easier!

After tucking in a million ends (2 hours!!)...

 and reinforcing the steek....
 I started to cut!!
 Voila! A square blanket!

Shetland wool is perfect for steeking because it grabs onto itself and doesn't unravel easily. It's a little scratchier than merino but it has a great character! (as do the sheep :)

Now to pick up the 700+ stitches for the border.....

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What a lovely blanket! You did a wonderful job of knitting and steeking.
Are you on Ravelry?
I'm under the Rav. name of Glenella.

Debbie

mfwirch said...

What an absolutely beautiful blanket! I suspect I would have a heart attack as soon as I started cutting. Perhaps someday my heart will be strong enough to try this too :D